Montpellier: Superheroes are back at the Arnaud-de-Villeneuve Children’s Hospital

Highlight of the show: Spiderman, Captain America, Batman and Deadpool rappel down from the hospital roof to rescue the children. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Dark Spiderman fait le show. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

L'heure de la pause photo avec la vilaine Harley Quinn. Florence Guilhem

Spiderman, girls and boys love him. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Batman a de l'humour. La preuve ? L'enfant est tout sourire. Florence Guilhem

On Wednesday, September 11, the association “Super-heroes big heart” organized a show on the forecourt of the Arnaud-de-Villeneuve hospital for the hospitalized children of the CHU.

“My favorite is Spiderman“, says Eliott, 3 years, 3 months, holding out his wrists like his superhero when he throws his sons. Same for Sarah, 4 years old. Gaël, a little boy of 4 and a half, with a mischievous look, struts around proudly in his Spiderman outfit. “My son has been a superhero fan since he was two and a half. He surprised us when, at that age, while we were making the list for Santa, he asked for the Thor outfit, then the others after that“, says his mother, who we also feel is not indifferent to these superheroes.

Little girls and little boys alike, they all dream of these superheroes when they see them behind their small screen or while turning the pages of their comic books. But, this Wednesday, for real, their favorite superheroes are right before their eyes, within reach, on the forecourt of the Arnaud-de-Villeneuve hospital. Wide-eyed, mouths wide open, little cries of joy, the emotion of the hospitalized children and others who are not is palpable. A little scared, some hide behind their parents while the less shy ones call out to their favorite superhero to meet his gaze.

Big-hearted superheroes

Captain America, Deadpool, Batman, Superman, Dark Spiderman, Thanos, Harley Quinn, Doctor Doom, Black Widow, Black Panthers: they're all here, the good and bad superheroes ready to do battle. To the tune of “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, the show begins. Sirens blare, a Mustang pulls up, and then a police car and Harley Davidsons take down the bad guys.
“What's going on? Look up there, it's Spiderman“, shouts an excited and ecstatic kid. The kids don't miss a single bit of the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, especially when the good guys rappel down from the hospital roof.
Confrontation and reconciliation are on the program of this show by the association “Super-heroes big heart”, before the photo break with the children and the hugs. Then will be the visit of all these superheroes in the rooms of the children who could not come down to watch the show. The thirty volunteers, members of special police units and their biker friends who came to lend them a hand, are in heaven. Mission accomplished.

Enchanting the daily life of hospitalized children

For three years, these men and women of the RAID, active or retired, have been working in hospitals or at home to brighten up the daily lives of sick children by staging these superhero shows. Flashback. Christophe Hernandez, former major of the Lyon National Police Intervention Group, during Covid-19, moved from one hospital to another because his daughter gave birth to a very premature baby, and then realized that the daily lives of hospitalized children were far from cheerful.

Having attended the superhero shows created by colleagues from Réunion, as well as others in Toledo, Ohio, he gathered his police buddies to put on a show of the same content. The idea hit home, members of the GIPN, which has since become the RAID, some still active, others retired, took up the challenge, as did a nurse. And because it is not a question of doing things by halves to re-enchant the daily lives of hospitalized children, they managed to obtain the real costumes from the “Marvel” superhero films in the United States. But their greatest joy, as Stéphane, vice-president of the association and member of a specialized unit of the Montpellier judicial police, tells us, “is when we see the children's smiles and their eyes full of stars, not to mention the hugs they give us“. As we will have understood, these superheroes not only have a big heart, but also a tender heart.